Building boom continues in Greater Victoria as other parts of Canada go bust

The building boom in Greater Victoria continues, notwithstanding developments elsewhere in Canada.

New figures from Statistics Canada show the value of building permits rose 72.6 per cent between November 2017 and November 2018 to $131.2 million to $76 million in the Victoria Census Metropolitan Area (CMA), which led the province in terms of growth. The Vancouver (CMA) grew by 63.4 per cent during the same period to $1.1 billion from $673.4 million.

Victoria and Vancouver countered the prevailing national trend, with the total value of all building permits rising 7.6 per cent. In fact, the national value of building permits barely rose between November 2018 and October 2018, rising 2.6, likely because of weakness in Ontario, where the value of building permits declined by 10.3 between October and November 2018.Year-to-year, the value of building permits dropped 9.3 per cent in Canada’s largest province.

By comparison, building permits in B.C. rose 14.3 per cent between October 2018 and November 2018 and 44.7 per cent between November 2017 and November 2018 — best in the nation, ahead of Quebec, where building permit values rose 42.3 between November 2017 and November 2018.

Quebec is also home to the CMA with the fastest rising building permit values, as Quebec City recorded a growth of 177.3 per cent to $224.1 million from $80.8 million.

Overall, building permits increased in six provinces in November, led by British Columbia and Quebec. Meanwhile, the value of permits rose in 14 of the 36 CMAs, led by Montréal, Vancouver and Calgary.